what's frustrating is when you have a trip (which I often do) that combines the American carry-on rules with the more stringent international ones. Always makes me nervous that someone is going to take away my carefully planned carry on luggage. I've seen it happen to others but so far I've been lucky.
Overall Rating: 1 vote
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Posted 6 months ago #
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In answer to Bandicoot's question, yes we did have a lovely time in Barcelona and it was our 30th wedding anniversary so we drank Cava to another 30 years!.
We saw a proportion of the buildings that were must see's, still have some we didn't get to and the art gallery so we could do a return visit sometime. Most unexpected thrill was the Paulau Musica Catalana, my guidebook didn't prepare me for how intensively decorated it was.Posted 6 months ago # -
Thanksgiving packing was a success! I had enough space in my small duffel that I could bring back gifts instead of having to ship them. It helps that I washed all our clothes at the in-law's place before we packed to return home.
The flight attendant teased me as I walked off the plane carrying my bag. He told me that I need to pick up something with some wheels. I didn't have time evangelize in response, so I just laughed. I was seriously amazed at the size of some of the suitcases that they let the other passengers bring on.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I need to plan our packing for Switzerland in about 10 days. It's only 3 nights/4 days but we're going to see some snow the first day so I'm getting ds1 some waterproof over-trousers, maybe ds2 too as although he has a snow suit it's bulky, both boys are getting warm boots each which they can wear the whole time, I need to buy waterproof gloves and then just one change of clothes each, they can wear their coats and I'll take an extra fleece each for them too. I bought a little travel game in amazon which got good reviews, will pack pens and a small pad of paper, a pack of cards, 2 activity books and some kids books are already on my Kindle. That ought to do them, together with a DS and charger. Actually, I just had a thought: dh says he wants to go skiing the second day for a few hours, maybe with ds1. In which case I think we may be able to hire some ski clothes, may be cheaper than having to pack extra and going over the carry-on limit. Plus I won't have to worry about drying wet things as we're hopping on a train in the afternoon for Lucerne. Must pack suncream too...
For me: warm coat, snow boots, a change of clothes, my Kindle, my iPod stuffed with podcasts and hopefully that will suffice. I want
to travel as light as possible, it's crap lugging a heavy bag about.Posted 5 months ago # -
I once had a TSA person comment, "Now that's packing!" when he saw the contents of my backpack. I usually travel with a small messenger-style bag that doubles as a purse when I'm out for the day, but contains in-flight necessities during the trip, and the aforementioned backpack. All my items are in packing cubes or zippered plastic bags so I can stay organized, and I carry the bare minimum for toiletries. (I don't wear makeup but I have sensitive skin, so I have to pack special items from shampoo to toothpaste. I can't rely on hotel freebies ever.)
I don't have any extended trips coming up, but I saw this post on packing lightly for a month long trip on the Everyday Minimalist and was inspired: http://www.everydayminimalist.com/?p=8050
She also opts to wear the bulky items (like boots) through security.
Posted 5 months ago # -
So, if you're doing only carry-on, do you decant shampoo/moisturizer into little bottles. I find that contact lens solution, toothpaste, lip balm and hand cream take up a lot of the 1qt bag. Adding shampoo would top it off. I usually rely on family or hotels for shampoo, or end up purchasing a small one. Since we're checking a bag to Hawaii in January, due to taking snokels and fins, I'll be fine for liquids as well, and we can likely put our winter gear in there as well.
Posted 5 months ago # -
i love those silicon gotoobs for decanting shampoo/conditioner/face cream/hand cream/toothpaste into.
regulation sized for airlines and indestructible so far in my experience.
leak proof!
widemouthed, so easy to empty, clean and refill.
i can get by for many days with just a small amount of product.
i don't even carry a toiletries bag anymore....just a zippered mesh pouch from muji that gets me through all airline security everywhere (except for the one in darwin where the zombies insist i move everything into one of their plastic ziplock bags).
i know it's primitive, but it is so simple and easy and it works just fine.Posted 5 months ago # -
I decant pretty much everything, unless it's already in a little bottle. For really liquid-y things, I re-use the tiny bottles the smallest size that liquid Dr. Bronner's comes in. For gooey-er things, like moisturizer, GoToobs are great - easy to refill!
The plastic ziplock bag is for "liquids and gels" so a solid deodorant doesn't need to go in it, but a liquid roll-on does. Lip balm doesn't need to go in from my experience, but contact lens solution and hand creams would. Here's the TSA's page: http://www.tsa.gov/311/311-carry-ons.shtm
Once decanted, all the stuff I need does fit in a ziplock.
Posted 5 months ago # -
awurrlu, if we ever run into each other out there in the world, we'll know each other instantly by our small and beautifully packed backpacks.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Contact lens solution is considered a medical item, so you can leave it out of the ziploc. It's listed as an exempt item on the tsa website linked above.
Pkilmain, I only decant hard-to-find items. I usually look for sample sizes of my favorites and bring those with me. That strategy works for me because I fly about 3 to 4 times per year, but it may not be enough for a frequent traveler.
Sephora is good about giving you sample sizes of the products that you usually buy.
Posted 5 months ago #
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